Underneath it all
by RebelHeart24
Summary: Cato always knew he would end up in the Hunger Games, it was his destiny. His father had him training ever since he could walk. This year was the year he would be in it for sure. His father pulled a few strings and had it set that Cato would participate in the 74th annual hunger games. Cato's father was a victor from the hunger games and his father before him. Now its Cato's turn.
1. Training

**A/N: I just started fanfiction and this is my first! I hope everyone enjoys it, and please review, I would love to know your thoughts!**

**This story is basically The Hunger Games from Cato's perspective and helps you understand him. I am changing some things in The Hunger Games, and am going to make it a little different. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or any of the characters except my original ones. **

"Cato, wake up _now_!" I heard my mother call from the kitchen for about the third time. I groaned and rolled over, stretching out my arms. I lay there a few more minutes, taking in the nice warmth of my bed before climbing out into the frigid air that awaited me. I glanced out of the window and noticed the snow had begun to fall for the first time this year.

My mother flung the door open and started waving a wooden spoon at me as she yelled, "Cato! Get out of that bed right this instance! You know how angry your father will be if he has to wait on you for _your _training lessons!" My mother was right, my father would be furious with me if I was late to training. And with the reaping right around the corner, I needed to get as much training in as I possibly could.

I sighed and rolled out of bed. I walked over to my dresser and pulled on a plain gray t-shirt. I changed my flannel pajama pants for sweatpants and slid on a black hoodie over my t-shirt. I sluggishly walked into the kitchen, which was right outside of my room, and sat at the small wooden table. My mother sat a plate of blueberry pancakes in front of me and I devoured them quickly. All this training lately has gotten me constantly exhausted and famished. When I was finished I walked outside into the freezing snow, only to find my father setting up a target a long ways across the yard.

"Ready to fight son?" My father asked as he walked over to me. But before I could answer he hit me square in the jaw forcefully.

"Ow?" I said and gave him a confused look as I rubbed my chin. He smacked me hard on the back of the head.

"Always be ready to fight." He said sternly and went to punch me in the face again, this time I blocked and tried to strike back, but he blocked me.

This went on for some time until he finally got bored and wanted to move onto to something else. We walked towards the makeshift target that was shaped like a person with a red drawn on circle exactly where the heart would be, the kill shot. He started off with handing me a bow and three arrows. I shot them almost as fast as he'd set them in my hand. All three rested directly in the center of the heart. Next my father handed me a knife which I threw with swift precision and it also landed directly in the center. I was then handed a spear, which also landed where all the other ones had, on the heart. My father thought I was too close and that was why I was so accurate, so he made me move back several yards. He handed me another knife and spear and arrows, and even though I was much farther away than I had been before, I still hit clearly in the center. My father then handed me an axe. Axes are difficult to throw with complete accuracy because they are much heavier on one end then they are the other. I eyed up the target and threw with all my might. The axe landed half on the kill shot and half above.

My father sighed with frustration. "You can't be sure it will kill them if it lands like that Cato. And you know the reaping is in just a few days and what are you going to do if the only weapon you have once you get in the games is an axe? You can't throw them accurately." When I didn't answer he sighed again and said, "Go get the axe and keep throwing it until it hits directly in the middle, _every time_."

I threw the axe several more times until my father was pleased enough to move on. The next thing he had in mind was sword fighting, and we did that until it was time for supper and my mother called us in. My younger sister Delaney was already sitting at the table drawing a picture. Her curly blonde hair kept falling in her eyes as she tried to draw. I walked over to my four-year old sister and kissed her on the top of her head, she giggled and held out her arms. I scooped her up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. My father sat down at the table waiting for my mother to serve him. She brought him a full plate of food and sat it down in front of him. She quickly grabbed Delaney's drawings and moved them off the table. I sat Delaney back down and sat beside her as my mother brought us plates. My mother grabbed her own and sat down as well.

After a few moments of silence my mother finally asked, "How did training go?"

I just looked down at my plate, knowing my father would answer with how bad I had done. He always focused on everything I did wrong, and all the things I did right he never seemed to notice.

"Cato can't throw the axe accurately and didn't beat me in sword fighting or hand-on-hand combat." My father said simply with a hint of disappointment in his deep voice and put another big bite of food into his mouth.

"I got strong at throwing the axe before we came in, and we tied in both sword fighting and hand-on-hand fighting." I said matter-of-factly still looking down at my plate and scooping up a bite of mashed potatoes.

"You're still not _accurate _with the axe and you shouldn't be tying with me, you should be beating me! Tying in the games will get you nowhere!" My father said furiously and slammed his hand down on the table.

Delaney began to cry out of fright from our father. My mother went quickly to her and picked her up, shushing her. She took her into the other room to calm her down.

"Now look what you've done!" I yelled. "Don't you think it's bad that your own _daughter _is scared of you?" I asked, furious that he had acted that way in front of her. It was nothing new though, Delaney was always afraid of him.

My father stood up, knocking the chair over behind him. He leaned over the table and struck me across the cheek. Then he turned and stalked to his room, slamming the door behind him. I got up, rubbing my cheek and swearing under my breath. I grabbed the plates from the table and started cleaning up the kitchen.


	2. Savera

I woke up early the next morning expecting to train, but my mother told me at breakfast that my father was sick with a migraine so I had the day off. I decided I would go into town and purchase some more arrows for my bow. The one's I trained with yesterday were getting old and flimsy and my father had been planning on going to get more anyways.

I got dressed and headed out to town. I passed several shops before I finally reached the weaponry one I had been looking for. It was a little run-down and looked like it needed some repairing, but everyone says they make the finest weapons in town. I guess I'll be figuring out if that rumor's true or not.

I pushed open the heavy wooden door. It made a loud creaking noise as I did so. The room was filled with all sorts of fine weapons lined along the walls. I was in awe for a moment, until a small girl with long wavy hair that went down past her slim waist and to her hips, came out from the back.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a small melodic voice.

"Just looking." I said and walked over to her. I had forgotten for a moment why I had really come. She was very beautiful. As I got closer to her I noticed she had soft brown eyes that almost completely matched her light brown hair.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything." She said.

She turned and began to walk away, but I stopped her. "Actually I was looking to buy some arrows."

She turned back around and walked over to the counter without a word. She pulled out a wooden case from behind the counter and took a few different arrows out of it. She lined them up across the counter.

"These are our best arrows." She said and spread her arms, gesturing to all the arrows sitting on the counter. "This one is probably the best for you though." She said pointing to the one on the end.

"How do you know what's best for me?" I asked, leaning on the counter and looking straight down into her eyes.

The fair skin on her cheeks blushed slightly and she looked down. "Well," she began still looking down at the arrow. "This one is the newest one we've made and is the most durable. And you look like you would shoot a lot and wear down your arrows, so the most durable one would most likely be your best choice." She looked back up at me when she finished talking.

I wasn't exactly sure what she had said though, I was too distracted with watching her full, pale lips as she spoke.

"I'll take it." I said, even though I didn't know anything about it. But for some reason I didn't care and for some reason I felt like I trusted her.

"Alright, how many do you want?" She asked as she put the arrows back in their case and took out another case. She opened it and nothing but several of that one kind of arrow she had picked out for me was in it.

"I'll take three for now, but I might have to come back down here a few times to get more." I said that last part with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and took out three arrows. She put them in a bag and handed them to me as I handed her the money. Her hand brushed against mine, it was cold from the temperature outside and soft. She quickly pulled her hand back. I'm not sure why though.

We stood there in silence for a few moments then I started to walk towards the door to leave, but I paused just before I exited to turn back around and ask, "What's your name?"

She looked up at me with a genuine smile and said, "Savera. What's yours?"

"I'm Cato." I said with a half-smile. "And I hope to see you again soon, Savera." I added, then turned and walked out the door.


	3. Errands

**A/N: Sorry these chapters are so short, I'm still not use to this format. I'll try to make the next one longer! I really wish you guys would review though, I wanna know your thoughts! So Review, please! :)**

Savera stuck in my head the next day at training and my father was growing furious with me because my aim was a tad off. He told me that if I was going to throw and shoot like that, I didn't deserve to win the hunger games. Then he sent me off to town to run errands because he didn't want me in his sight until I was focused again. I didn't mind though, because part of me was hoping I would run into Savera. Even though I knew I should be focused on training, especially with the reaping in just four days.

As I made my way through the snow covered town, I caught sight of Savera gracefully walking out of the bakery with a small brown bag in her hand. I didn't realize how much I was hoping to run into her, until I did. I jogged slightly to catch up with her, and then fell into step beside her. She looked over at me with a surprised smile.

"Hey." I said a little breathlessly, partly from jogging in the cold and partly because her smile was just that gorgeous.

She stopped walking and turned to me. "Well, hi." She said with a small laugh at me, because I was breathing so hard. Her eyes lit up when she laughed and it had a wonderful sound to it. "How are those arrows working out for you?" She asked when I didn't say anything else.

I had to think back to earlier when I was training and shot the arrows. They were good arrows, but I was a little off today so I wasn't sure how good they actually were. But I couldn't tell her that, so I just said, "I haven't gotten to shoot them much yet, but they seem pretty good." That seemed like a good enough answer.

After a moment she asked, "Do you want to walk with me? I have a few errands to run." She gestured to the sidewalk that went around past all the stores in town.

"I would love to." I smiled at her and stuck out my arm for her to take so I could escort her around town. She took it with a smile and we headed off towards the west side of town.

We walked and talked for hours, running her errands and mine. We took our sweet time, because we didn't want to part. Eventually though it began to get dark and she had to get home. I walked her there. She lived in a small wooden house a little ways down from her father's weaponry shop. The house was small, but quaint. A line of smoke came out into the sky through the small chimney.

As we walked toward her door she paused and looked up at me with her big brown eyes and asked, "Will I see you tomorrow?" in a hopeful voice.

I hadn't thought about tomorrow and now that she asked me I remembered my father probably wouldn't allow me out of the house. He would probably be furious with me that I took so long running a few errands and would probably make me train non-stop all day. I dreaded going home and facing my father. He told me to go out to town and run errands to clear my head, but he expected me to back and train more. Now that it was so late, we wouldn't be able to.

"I sure hope so." I said in all honesty.

She took that answer and we parted. She went inside her house and I began to walk home. I felt very alone walking home through the cold dark night without her presence beside me. She was lively and warm, and I didn't realize until I was alone how cold it had really gotten outside. I shoved my hands in my pockets and trudged home through the thick snow.

When I finally reached my house, it had gotten fairly late. I paused at the door, afraid to go in and face the wrath of my father. I took a deep breath and opened the door. My family- minus Delaney who must have already been put to bed -sat around the table eating dinner. As soon as my father caught sight of me, he got up and went straight to his room, slamming the door behind him. My mother sighed and got up. She waved me over to sit down at the table. I obeyed and she brought me a plate, setting it down in front of me. She sat down as well, to finish hers.

We ate in silence for a few moments until she sighed again and said, "Cato, your father is only hard on you because he's worried about you."

"Maybe." I said as I stuffed food into my mouth. I didn't want to talk about my father, especially not to my mother. She was always on his side, and always stood up for him.

"He's just been through a lot in his life, and your about to go through the same thing he had to go through." She said softly, not wanting to upset me but wanting me to try to understand my father. I didn't want to understand my father though.

"Whose fault is that?" I snapped looking up at her. "_He's _the one putting me through this. I don't even have a choice."

She looked hurt, and for a moment I felt bad for snapping at her. She got snapped at enough from my father, but I couldn't help it, she was defending the man who was practically sending her son away to get killed. "Your father is doing this for your own good." She said almost in a whisper.

"My own good?" I asked with so much venom in my voice, it sounded deadly. "How could me going off to die possibly be for my own good?" I was fuming now.

"You won't die." She said in a whisper as if to assure herself.

I shoved out of my chair and stormed off to my room. I had had enough of the conversation.


End file.
